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Thoughts?

No one should be using those sentences for serious study.

The day this new feature was implemented I revived all of my StackZ! files and completely uninstalled Anki.  For me and my learning it represents a real upgrade from when I started using StackZ! 2.5 years ago.

However, there's a poorly implemented feature of Anki that StackZ! could implement very very well.  What I am about to describe is currently implemented on the website Remembering the Kanji.

In total there are 7 stacks.  There are the five stacks that we are all familiar with that give us an overview of how well we know any particular card.  However in RtK there is a stack for cards we have not yet studied or learned.  There is also another stack for cards that we used to know, but have recently failed.

Since programmatically these two new stacks are the same I'll just call it Stack 0.  Stack 0 only has two states.  Never learned and learned (but failed).  Regardless of their state all cards in Stack 0 move to Stack 1 when they are studied and answered "Yes, I know this".

From a user perspective I think the easiest way to visualize this to have seven stacks total.  The far left being cards you have never studied and learn and the one to the right of that being cards that used to be in the main StackZ! but have been failed and need to be restudied.

Thus, in principle, you would use the "Study/Learn" mode of StackZ! on the left two stacks and the "Test" mode on the right 5.

Alternatively, since changing the number of stacks might be a pain from the interface perspective it would still be nice to allow this sort of visualization.  That is the first stack is never studied cards, the second is failed cards, the next two are the same as the current second and third stacks, then the final stack is a combination of the last three stacks.  (This system only works well if you start doubling the time taken after stack 3.  Since research shows that's a good system anyway it's not a big limitation.)

Just put in your key again.

NHK is now broadcasting a show for learners of Japanese called エリンが挑戦　(Called "Erin's Challenge" in Japanese bookstores and "Getting into Nihongo" in NHK's weekly schedule).

I love that show!  I record it religiously.

If someone has a transcript of this show, perhaps he could create a file for each episode containing the most difficult words a mid-beginner (Let's say, someone who has passed Level 4 of the official test) is likely to encounter.

Dramanote doesn't have transcripts which isn't too surprising since it's not a drama.  It doesn't really fit into any of the fan communities so I doubt anyone will ever make transcripts.

On the other hand the thought of using this show as anything more than reinforcement for things you already know seems a little redundant.  Just watching the show will give you a good idea of what the words mean just by context alone.  Plus there is so much subtitling and furigana it's easy to look up words if you really really want to know their "exact" meaning.

I think it's really funny that you mentioned it though because I thought I was the only person watching it.

Developing for the iPhone is really expensive.  Day 1 costs around around $2500 give or take and then you have to use tools, languages, and APIs that are unfamiliar to most.

An application that is already running on Mac would be much more ideal.

I use the classic Letiner system where all the cards start at the far left stack and move to the right.  If I fail a card it gets set back to box 1.  (Far left.)

My intervals are:
Box 1: 0
Box 2: 3
Box 3: 7
Box 4: 14
Box 5: 30

I will also be using the new feature that doubles the time for cards in box 5.

This is a pretty classic SRS style.

(I have no idea why lots of the example decks start out with cards in the middle.  I can't think of a valid learning system that is useful for.)

Another excellent feature.  I think I can finally completely ditch Anki.  (I still like it's SRS algorithm better, but everything else about it sucks for me.)

There's always anki.  It runs on Windows/Linux/Mac and like StackZ! was also designed for learning Japanese.

It also uses a more up-to-date learning system.  It is SRS based on SM-2 algorythmn developed in 1985 as opposed to StackZ! Leitiner system which was developed in the 1880's.

I'm not sure how PocketStackZ! got released without any new features at all so really this should be a bug.

There should be some form of RepeatAdvisor functionality on the PPC version.

At a minimum it would be great to select all of the Untest cards and all of the Expired cards from the current selection.

(Maybe add an extra dividor in the same menu where you choose "Repeat Advisor".  Under "Untest on Top" you could have two more check boxes.)

1) Replacing: How about an option in the style of

[ x ] Local stack: automatically replace removed entries

The worst problem in software.  Adding options, especially user-selectable ones, increases the complexity.  I'll try to think of an alternative implementation, but there's only so many handy buttons on a PDA.

2) It seems that the focus is put somehow on the list with the numbers from time to time... the buttons always manipulate the controls with the focus. If you put the focus back on the arrow buttons, it will be OK. This is not random - are you sure that you did not remove the focus from the buttons?

It's certainly possible.  I'm sure if I thought about it this probably only happens when I'm on the train.  I probably got bumped or something and set focus to that list control.  I'm not sure how to unfocus it.  I used to fix it by selecting the About Box, but that hasn't been working for me lately.

3) This active number can be helpful when you start with really hard words. Also, the number is not constant over time... Please also note that thanks to this list you always know how many elements are in your "hand" for review, without this list you would not intuitively feel it (a number displayed somewhere has a completely different effect). We could add another option to hide this list...? aaaargh another option... well, maybe?

Actually the list itself is fine.  It's the association of a particular card with a particular number that wrecks havok on my brain.  Stupid engineering brain I'm afraid.  It always tries to link things to numbers and vice versa.  This becomes much less important if I get #1 because the numbers would be changing much more rapidly.  (Right now I rarely pop cards off the stack because I don't want new cards.  I just keep them all until I know the entire temporary stack.)

I've never really liked the learn mode in Pocket Stackz.  I wish there was one slight tweak to it.

Here's my typical case:  I have a bunch of vocabulary works in my temporary stack.  Usually between 7 and 10.  I'm getting near the end of my vocabulary list or I've got some really hard words in my temporary stack.

1) So I finally think I've got one of the cards learned and I press the up button to toss it out of the temporary list ... and a new vocab card takes it's place?  Why?  This is what the DOWN button does.  Why does the up button also do this?

2) Occasionally the up and down button don't work.  Instead of pushing and popping cards from the temporary stack it just scrolls up and down the temporary stack.  Yet there is no button to toggle this mode on or off.  It's just random.

3) The card you are looking at is highlighted on the left.  This sucks.  I tend to memorize the meaning and reading of the NUMBER not the kanji.  Why do I care which card number it is in my temporary stack?  That list should be gone, which would fix bug #2, and there should just be a count of how many cards you have in your temp stack.

All my opinion of course.  However, I've been using Stackz for almost two years now and went from zero Japanese to being quite functional.  So these are requests based on tons of experience trying to actually use it to learn difficult (for me) material.

My PocketPC was on the fritz one day and I happened to have a vocabulary quiz the next morning.  So I printed up some cards for "old school" portability.

The hilarious thing is all of my classmates were wondering how I made the flashcards ...  ::)

Could you please try it and check whether it's what you expected?

I love this feature!  I've been needing it for a long time.

The PC version of Stackz 2007 has a nice feature where you can select the type of cards from the "Repeat Advisor" bar at the top of the Lesson/Stacks window.  Is this something we can also get on the Pocket version?

Edit: This is called the "Retention Manager" in Stackz 2007.

I only use PocketStackz and I mainly use it on the train, but I also use it at school especially right before tests.  Even if I'm sitting at home in my room I still study using my PDA instead of the PC version!